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Innovations
December, 2002
 A Toland-Herzig Press Release, used in a story compiled by LEE MORRISON, T-R Business Editor
John Delcoma, Director of Pre-planning, gives an Advisor demonstration to director Mark Wideman and Toland-Herzig president John R. Herzig.
A dramatic leap in personalizing a person’s funeral is occurring in the Tuscarawas Valley.
Toland-Herzig Funeral Homes and Cremation Services of New Philadelphia, Dover and Strasburg are now offering interactive software as a way to help families in the process of selecting a casket, urn or other aspects of the funeral.
The Family Advisor software program was developed by the Aurora Casket Co. of Aurora, Ind., specifically for funeral service and allows families the opportunity to select funeral merchandise from virtually anywhere.
“With the program on my laptop computer, I am able to take our casket and urn selections into a family’s home if I am making arrangements,” said John Delcoma, Toland-Herzig’s director of pre-planning. “It is also helpful when I am giving presentations throughout the community.”
About 300 casket models are available for delivery the next day, providing a greater selection than ever.
Also on the list of questions is price range, with the individual item’s cost listed on screen. Many options are available for the kind of lining material and style, metal or wood casket and handles.
Delcoma said there has been good response to the technology.
“Computers are so much a part of our daily lives that the people I have worked with have been very hands on,” Delcoma said. “It has been fun to watch them take ownership of the program because they are making decisions and selections for their own caskets and urns in everything from the materials they are made of to being able to choose their favorite colors or themes.”
When renovations to the Toland-Herzig location at New Philadelphia are complete, the Family Advisor will be the focal point of the Arrangements Center, he added.
John R. Herzig, President of Toland-Herzig, said he understands that selecting a casket or urn by computer isn’t for everyone.
“The selection of a casket or urn can be hard enough,” he said. “This new technology doesn’t mean we are changing everything - we are simply improving the way we serve area families.”
He said the Dover location will maintain a traditional selection room with more than 30 full-size caskets on display in addition to a full-size vault display and cremation options room.
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